It's not the kind of thing D.J. Richardson likes to bring up. He's not proud of it.

But Illinois' junior guard is more than aware that the third-year players on the University of Illinois basketball team have never won an early-season mini-tournament in places like Las Vegas, South Padre Island or, this week, in Cancun, Mexico.

It's a hole that could be filled tonight and Wednesday night when Illinois plays in the Cancun Challenge. Illinois plays Richmond tonight, then takes on either Illinois State or Rutgers in games that will be played in a ballroom that has been converted into a gym with minimal seating at the Moon Palace Resort.

Oddly, the one player who knows what it's like to win a tournament is Illinois' only senior, Sam Maniscalco. He was playing for Bradley in November 2009 when Illinois went to Las Vegas and lost both games, first to Utah, then to Bradley on a night when Maniscalco scored 12 including a perfect nine-for-nine performance at the free throw line.

Now he has transferred to Illinois and he believes it's time to bring home some hardware.

"It's one of our goals," Maniscalco said. "We have an opportunity and that's special whether it's the Big Ten championship or the national championship or any championship. It's always special if you're an athlete and a competitor."

Tonight's matchup will test Illinois' patience against Richmond's deliberate offense, an offshoot of the Princton scheme that coach Bill Carmody teaches at Northwestern.

Richmond's coach, Chris Mooney, played at Princeton and likes to run the patient, weaving offense that tries to get players open with backdoor cuts. Illinois has played fairly well against that style over the years, but it's always tricky for young players who are going against it for the first time.

"I told the guys that our practices leading up to this will be very important," coach Bruce Weber said. "For the young guys who have never gone against Northwestern or the Princeton stuff, it's difficult to grasp. We have to break it down for them. Coach (Jay) Price has had the Northwestern scouting report for six or seven years and he has a good feel for it."

Maniscalco has been working with freshmen like point guard Tracy Abrams to help him adapt to college basketball.

"I just try to share my experiences with him," Maniscalco said. "It's all new to him and that's true with all the freshmen. When I was a freshman I remember getting bombarded with all kinds of stuff.

"In high school you don't really have scouting reports. It's more about what you are doing as opposed to the other team. Now they have to study scouting reports, schemes and matchups.

"Tracy has been great with it. He's like a sponge. He's eager to learn, he wants to be good and he approaches it with the right attitude."

Four of the starters who helped Richmond reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament last season have moved on. The only returning regular is junior guard Darien Brothers.

Through four games, Richmond's leading scorer has been coming off the bench. Kendall Anthony, a super-quick 5-foot-8 guard, is averaging 17.3 points.

Weber said he researched this tournament before accepting the invitation to play at the beachside resort.

"They approached us in their third or fourth year and we wanted to see how it unfolded," Weber said. "We heard nothing but great things about it. Vanderbilt went and I talked to (coach) Kevin Stallings. Missouri went last year and won it.

"It's like South Padre, a smaller venue, a ballroom. But even South Padre seemed like a big ballroom. This is very intimate and the fans who are here will be right on top of (the action)."